Appropriateness of Antibiotic Prescription During Teleconsultation.

Teleconsultation has become a new means of using care which has taken off significantly since the COVID crisis, The pooling of the technological environment within the TC makes it possible to set up practice reviews by reusing the data collected. Our aim was to evaluate the relevance of antibiotic therapy during teleconsultations carried out on the national teleconsultation platform "Qare" in 4 common infections. 143,428 TCs with structured prescriptions were analyzed, with an appropriate prescription in more than 82% of cases, higher than in the literature. The use of data makes it possible to quickly assess practices and inform doctors to improve their practices.

Six years of activity of the Italian vaccine portal "VaccinarSì": a web traffic evaluation using Google Analytics.

BACKGROUND: Despite the scientific consensus about vaccines safety and effectiveness, there is still a discrepancy between scientific evidence and perception by the general population. The "VaccinarSì" portal was created in 2013 by Italian specialists in Public Health to provide evidence-based information regarding vaccination. STUDY DESIGN: The purpose of this study was to analyse the web traffic on "VaccinarSì" platform during a six-year period (May 8, 2013-May 8, 2019). Moreover, we compared the first six-month with the last six-month period of the website activity, to identify potential areas of improvements. METHODS: This is a descriptive study using Google Analytics data. We collected data regarding the following: total number of sessions to the portal, total number of pages viewed, total number of users and the number of new visitors, geographical locations and demography of users as well as user access mode (type of device used and way of access). We also collected some data that were informative about the possibility to infer the level of visitors' engagement with the portal, such as thee number of returning users, bounce rate, number of pages visited per session and mean session duration. RESULTS: Throughout the relevant period, the portal has consistently increased its popularity, with a remarkable increment of monthly connections (ending up to more than 80,000/month) from all over Italy. Visitors were mainly female (71.1%), aged between 25 and 44 years (64.7%). Healthcare professionals were responsible for a considerable proportion of accesses (50.6%). The mobile has become the dominant device used to access the portal, accounting for 77.8% of total connection in the last six months. Similarly, in the last period, organic search accounted for 92% of all connections. Measles and MPR vaccine, as well as chickenpox and hexavalent vaccine, have remained the most appealing topics of interest among visitors over the years. The page that attracted more visitors over the six years was "real risks and benefits of vaccination", accounting for 5.67% of total sessions with a high mean duration spent of 05:08 minutes. CONCLUSION: During the six years of activity, overall, the level of users' engagement with the portal has dropped with an increased bounce rate and a lower average number of pages visited per session and a lower mean duration of each connection. The lowest engagement involved connections accessed through mobile devices. Results helped "Vaccinarsi" developers to speculate about future strategies to further increase the platform popularity and optimize visitors' engagement.

Report of three imported cases of neurocysticercosis in Guadeloupe.

BACKGROUND: Neurocysticercosis is endemic in most countries of Central and South America but has rarely been described in the French West Indies. We aimed to better understand the clinical and radiological presentation of our cases. CASE PRESENTATION: We report three cases of neurocysticercosis in patients living in Guadeloupe, with different clinical and radiological presentations. CONCLUSION: Given the eventuality of autochtonous transmission, the diagnosis should be considered in all patients living in Guadeloupe presenting with seizures.

Score for pulmonary tuberculosis in patients with clinical presumption of tuberculosis in a low-prevalence area.

OBJECTIVES: To develop a diagnostic predictive model for the identification of patients with presumptive pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) at high risk for active disease and those requiring nucleic acid amplification (NAAT) testing and/or preventive respiratory isolation in low-incidence, high-income countries. DESIGN: A 1:1 case-control study was conducted in consecutive immunocompetent patients with presumed PTB hospitalised between 2009 and 2012 in Paris, France. Cases were defined as individuals with culture-confirmed PTB, regardless of smear result. Those with presumed PTB and three smear- and culture-negative samples were selected as controls. A score was derived using conditional logistic regression. Internal validity of the score was assessed using the bootstrap method. RESULTS: A total of 354 patients were included in the analysis (177 cases, 177 controls). Among the 177 cases, 74 (42%) were smear-negative but culture-positive. Factors independently associated with PTB were age <50 years (adjusted OR [aOR] 4.7, 95%CI 1.8-12), diabetes (aOR 3.2, 95%CI 1.1-9.8), absence of cough with or without sputum (aOR 3.7, 95%CI 1.7-8.3), fever >15 days (aOR 3.5, 95%CI 1.3-9.5), apical infiltration without cavity (aOR 3.4, 95%CI 1.4-8.5) and cavitation or miliary pattern (aOR 19.7, 95%CI 7.6-51.1). Score C-index was 0.84 (95%CI 0.79-0.88). Calibration for the overall population (P = 0.770) and in smear-negative patients (P = 0.980) was appropriate. A score of 3.3 had 90% sensitivity, 50% specificity and 79% (IQR 28-95) median probability of PTB. CONCLUSIONS: This score could be used to build an algorithm to determine the need for respiratory isolation and/or NAAT use in PTB disease.

Melioidosis in New Caledonia: a dominant strain in a transmission hotspot.

Melioidosis is an infectious disease caused by Burkholderia pseudomallei, a bacterium endemic in Southeast Asia and northern Australia. In New Caledonia, sporadic cases were first described in 2005; since then, more cases have been identified. To improve our understanding of melioidosis epidemiology in New Caledonia, we compared the local cases and B. pseudomallei isolates with those from endemic areas. Nineteen melioidosis cases have been diagnosed in New Caledonia since 1999, mostly severe and with frequent bacteraemia, leading to three (16%) fatalities. All but one occurred in the North Province. Besides sporadic cases caused by non-clonal strains, we also identified a hotspot of transmission related to a clonal group of B. pseudomallei that is phylogenetically related to Australian strains.

A 3.90 V iron-based fluorosulphate material for lithium-ion batteries crystallizing in the triplite structure.

Li-ion batteries have empowered consumer electronics and are now seen as the best choice to propel forward the development of eco-friendly (hybrid) electric vehicles. To enhance the energy density, an intensive search has been made for new polyanionic compounds that have a higher potential for the Fe²âº/Fe³âº redox couple. Herein we push this potential to 3.90 V in a new polyanionic material that crystallizes in the triplite structure by substituting as little as 5 atomic per cent of Mn for Fe in Li(Fe(1-δ)Mn(δ))SO4F. Not only is this the highest voltage reported so far for the Fe²âº/Fe³âº redox couple, exceeding that of LiFePO4 by 450 mV, but this new triplite phase is capable of reversibly releasing and reinserting 0.7-0.8 Li ions with a volume change of 0.6% (compared with 7 and 10% for LiFePO4 and LiFeSO4F respectively), to give a capacity of ~125 mA h g⁻¹.

Synthesis, structure, and magnetic properties of the NaCoXO4F·2H2O phases where X = S and Se.

A novel hydrated fluoroselenate NaCoSeO(4)F·2H(2)O has been synthesized, and its structure determined. Like its sulfate homologue, NaCoSO(4)F·2H(2)O, the structure contains one-dimensional chains of corner-sharing MO(4)F(2) octahedra linked together through F atoms sitting in a trans configuration with respect to each other. The magnetic properties of the two phases have been investigated using powder neutron diffraction and susceptibility measurements which indicate antiferromagnetic ordering along the length of the chains and result in a G-type antiferromagnetic ground state. Both compounds exhibit a Néel temperature near 4 K, and undergo a field-induced magnetic phase transition in fields greater than 3 kOe.